Fox guides Broncos to big game in season of heart defect scare

8:42 AM,
Jan. 31, 2014

Denver Broncos head coach John Fox talks with quarterback Peyton Manning (18) during practice Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014, in Florham Park, N.J. The Broncos are scheduled to play the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII football game Sunday, Feb. 2, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo)

Written by

Harry Frezza
| @thefrez56

The job is one of many for which an NFL head coach is responsible: detailing the media with the condition of a player's health. Denver Broncos coach John Fox has been doing it for 12 years, first with Carolina 2002-10 and the last three years in Denver.

His role was switched Nov. 2 when he collapsed on a golf course near his home in Charlotte, N.C. during the Broncos' bye week. A congenital heart defect - aortic stenosis, the narrowing of a vital valve that pumps blood around the body - was discovered in 1997 when Fox was the Giants' defensive coordinator.